The free-agent class of starting pitchers is weaker than in most years, making pitching-rich clubs such as Tampa Bay a popular target in trade discussions.

The Rays, in fact, are so deep in quality starters, it’s easy to overlook how good some of their pitchers are.

Case in point: Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson.

Righty James Shields and lefty David Price are the Rays’ most accomplished starters. Lefty Matt Moore possesses the greatest upside. But over the past two seasons, Hellickson arguably has outperformed them all.

While Hellickson doesn’t record many strikeouts – his rate of 6.3 per nine innings last season was the ninth lowest in the AL – he produced a lower combined ERA and opponents’ batting average than both Shields and Price in 2011 and ’12.

The two-year breakdowns:

ERA: Hellickson 3.02, Price 3.04, Shields 3.15.

OBA: Hellickson .227, Price .228, Shields .228.

Of course, Hellickson isn’t nearly the same type of workhorse as Shields and Price. He threw 366 innings the past two seasons, 69 2/3 fewer than Price, 111 fewer than Shields.

It’s possible that Hellickson, at 6-foot-1, 185 pounds, will never develop into a 230-inning monster. But he’s still only 25, and still quite affordable. He is not eligible for arbitration until 2014, and not eligible for free agency until after the ‘16 season.

Why would the Rays trade him, as opposed to a more expensive pitcher such as Shields? Well, Hellickson is the only Rays starter represented by Scott Boras, which means he is unlikely to sign a club-friendly extension anytime soon.

Anyway, here’s one more fun fact to consider:

In the past 10 years, 68 pitchers have worked at least 400 innings before reaching three years of major-league service. Hellickson has the lowest ERA of any AL pitcher in that group, and ranks third overall behind Tim Lincecum and Roy Oswalt.

Tim Lincecum told the San Francisco Chronicle in September that he was comfortable going year to year with his contract.

The Giants, who control Lincecum for two more years, want to sign him long-term.

The solution?

It might be one extreme or the other.

Lincecum, coming off a two-year, $23 million contract, said he would be comfortable on a one- or two-year contract.

The Giants might need to make him a monster offer – one of say, six to eight years – to persuade him to sign a longer deal.

“It depends on how they come after me,” Lincecum told the Chronicle. “If it’s aggressive, obviously I want to take that into consideration and talk about it with my agent and see what he thinks is good. I haven’t dismissed anything.”

Lincecum, 27, won the 2008 and ’09 National League Cy Young awards and has since committed to a fitness regimen that should improve his chances of long-term success.

The Giants also are trying to reach a new contract agreement with their other premier right-hander, Matt Cain, who is eligible for free agency at the end of next season.

“We’re going to stay engaged with both of them,” Giants assistant general manager Bobby Evans said. “It’s a matter of finding common ground. Our interest in both of them goes beyond this coming season.”

The outcome of the Giants’ negotiations with their two star pitchers almost certainly will influence their pursuits of free agents such as outfielder Carlos Beltran.

The team’s top priority is keeping Lincecum and Cain into the latter part of the decade.

In an effort to free up money so they can pursue offensive upgrades, the Giants are willing to trade starter Jonathan Sanchez, according to major-league sources.

The Giants have one of the best (and most expensive) starting rotations in baseball. One rival executive projected that, including salary arbitration awards, the team’s six returning starters – Sanchez, Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Ryan Vogelsong, Madison Bumgarner, and Barry Zito – could combine to earn as much as $60 million in 2012. That is roughly half of the team’s payroll.

When including the bullpen – with well-compensated relievers like Brian Wilson, Jeremy Affeldt, and Javier Lopez – San Francisco is on track for perhaps the highest pitching expenditure (by percentage of payroll) of any team in the major leagues.

So if the Giants are to sign a significant hitter while maintaining a payroll around $120 million, they will probably need to part with one current starter.

Sanchez is the most expendable. He’s likely to earn around $6 million next year before becoming a free agent after the 2012 season. But his value is at a low point, coming off a season in which his walk rate peaked while he threw barely more than 100 innings because of injuries and wildness.

Sanchez performed like a No. 5 starter this season, but other teams will need to weigh whether the motivation of a contract year will help the left-hander return to the form he showed while having a career year (13-9, 3.07 ERA, 193 1/3 innings) for the champion Giants in 2010.